A Beginner's Guide to Philippine Government Service (and other matters)

How Do You Earn Leave Credits?

Government employees who know what real work-life balance is enjoy their holidays and go on vacation. It keeps them sane and healthy and productive at work. And why not? The Omnibus Rules on Leave generally guarantee all appointive employees 15 days vacation and 15 days sick leave privileges annually with full pay excluding Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays, without limitation on the number of VL and SL days that they can accumulate.

The question is – How do you earn your leave credits?Sec. 27 of the Omnibus Rules on Leave instructs that an employee earns one VL and one SL for every 24 days of actual service. Days covered by a previously approved leave with pay are considered as “actual service” while leaves of absence without pay for reasons other than illness are not (Sec. 28, ORL). Using a simplified approach, the Omnibus Rules provides these two tables to illustrate the number of VL and SL that you can earn on a daily – or monthly – basis:

Here’s also a Table showing the conversion of working hours or minutes into fractions of a day, based on an 8-hour workday:

All your tardiness and undertime will be deducted against your earned VL. Undertime cannot be charged against your SL except if it was incurred due to health reasons, supported by a medical certificate and an application for leave (Sec. 34, ORL). If you’re absent on a day when work was declared suspended after the start of regular working hours (like when the Governor declares suspension of work after noontime due to an impending typhoon), you will not be considered absent the entire day. Your leave credits will only be deducted with the amount corresponding to the time when working hours began up to the time when the work suspension was declared (Sec. 32, ORL)

There are, however, other officials and employees who are covered by special laws when it comes to leave privileges such as the members of the Judiciary, employees of courts, chairmen and commissioners of Constitutional Bodies, and employees in the Foreign Service. They have their own rules on this matter. Also, the computation of leave for employees with irregular work hours schedule and those observing flexible working hours are covered by different rules. I intend to write a separate post for them.